African Rhythms
ISBN: 9780822393108
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / Duke University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Composers; Jazz musicians;

African Rhythms is the autobiography of the important jazz pianist, composer and band leader Randy Weston. He tells of his childhood in Brooklyn, his six decades long musical career, his time living in Morocco, and his lifelong quest to learn about the musical and cultural traditions of Africa.

Randolph Edward Weston was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 6, 1926. He was drafted into the Army in 1944 while World War II was underway and served three years in an all-black unit. After being discharged, he took over managing his father's restaurant and began playing jazz and R&B gigs in the borough. He became a pianist whose music and scholarship advanced the argument that jazz is an African music.

He recorded numerous albums during his lifetime including Uhuru Afrika, Self Portraits, Tanjah, The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco, and African Nubian Suite. He received the Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. His memoir, African Rhythms written with Willard Jenkins, was published in 2010. He died on September 1, 2018 at the age of 92.

(Bowker Author Biography)


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